mustache and beard

[Mel1721L]

I had a moustache when I was in the army as that was all we were allowed to grow, but started to grow a beard soon after leaving and have had one ever since. I shampoo it every day but don't use anything special on it.

[brewerpaul]

There have been very few months, since hair would grow on my face, that I didn't have both. It has gone from scraggly long, along with the hair down my back, to mustache only to what I have now. I work in a cardiac cath lab and have a surgical mask on most of my day so I try to keep it trimmed for comfort. The hair colour has been less than brown since I was about 30 years old.

[IsaacW]

[Hawk]

I don't know if anyone has ever told you this Isaac, but you look very much like the actor, Jonny Lee Miller, as he plays Sherlock Holmes, in the TV series Elementary, if he grew his beard out a bit......

Hawk

[Doug D]

Occasionally, I go bare faced, but not for long. I usually keep it about this length.

[ctbuchanan]

Have had a beard for as long as I can remember. Even went with the "Blue Beard" look when attending a UConn Basketball playoff game with my daughter.

[IsaacW]

I don't know if anyone has ever told you this Isaac, but you look very much like the actor, Jonny Lee Miller, as he plays Sherlock Holmes, in the TV series Elementary, if he grew his beard out a bit......

Hawk

Never heard or thought about that, but I will take it as a compliment. I have always liked Mr. Miller, especially liked Plunkett and Macleane.

IW

[Mike_Oettle]

When I first wanted to grow my facial hair at the age of 21, I was forbidden to have a beard by my employer. But I grew a moustache and have never shaved it since then.
(I had tried to grow a moustache earlier on, but did not have enough growth.)
When I started a new job about seven months later, I stopped shaving. Apart from three spells of military duty when I had to shave (there were others when I did not have to) I have had a beard ever since. The last time I removed it was in 1977, and I chose to leave the tuft of hair on my bottom lip. Nobody said anything about it.
I have used good old-fashioned Brylcreem to soften it for about 40 years.
For a while I tried moustache wax, but it did nothing for me and I dropped the idea.
I use a nose and ear hair trimmer to keep my moustache at a respectable length. It works just fine, although it wouldn’t suit everybody.
Since becoming engaged to my wife I have used the services of her hairdresser to cut my hair and trim my beard. We have now had the same hairdresser for 35 years.
At first I used to go to her twice or three times a year, but now I limit it to a single visit in any year.
My wife has been nagging me to have my annual trim for some months now, and I have an appointment tomorrow. The beard hangs to between the tops of my shirt pockets, and I expect I will lose at least a handsbreadth of it.
My brother keeps his beard, which grows much like mine, trimmed to about half an inch in length. I find this ridiculously short.
Regards,
Mike

[Elf]

I last shaved Thanksgiving Day 1980, so it looks like Mike has me beat. See the avatar for it's usual trim, but I have forgone the monthly trim for the past two months trying to find a new style. However it gets mighty fluffed in the turbulence of the motorcycle windshield. In the summer, without windshield, it blows back in the straight wind blast. I doubt I will get it long enough to tuck into the jacket like some cyclists.

Thanks to all for the suggestions on beard products. I will try to find some of these. My latest product to try is Colonel Conk's which I picked up while visiting San Francisco. I am not entirely thrilled with it however. Again, thanks to all and thanks for starting this thread.

[Tobus]

My brother keeps his beard, which grows much like mine, trimmed to about half an inch in length. I find this ridiculously short.

I kept mine that short from 1998 (when I first decided to stop shaving) until about 2011 when I decided to grow it out longer. For 13 years, I kept it this length:



Looking back on it now, I agree that it was ridiculously short. It was barely one step above the stubble look (which I don't understand at all). And I was always frustrated by certain patchy/thin spots that were very apparent when it was that short. But the reason I kept it so short all those years was because I was simply intimidated by the potential social ramifications of growing it out longer. I was a young engineer, still trying to establish my reputation as a serious professional. I didn't want to come off as looking sloppy, unkempt, or otherwise unprofessional, given the relatively conservative environment in which I live and work. In retrospect, that was probably a smart decision in my twenties, and less necessary in my thirties. Now that I'm in my forties, I am much less inclined to care what my boss or anyone else thinks of my facial grooming. My status as a professional is well established by now. And too, beards are much more common now than they were in the '90s when I first grew it out. I hope that trend continues, and that beards don't fall back out of style.

On the other hand, growing my beard out this long was probably a bit too far. It looks great on some guys when it's that long, but my growth pattern or facial shape just isn't suited for it.